Svalbard Global Seed Vault (19 images)

Nestled in the mountains above Svalbard's airport at Longyearbyen on the island of Spitsbergen, the Global Seed Vault is a repository of millions of seeds from genebanks around the world. Known as the Doomsday Vault in the media, the respository was placed in Svalbard, for security and safety reasons - the permafrost keeps the installation cool, and there's low tectonic activity.